Hi all,
Well, having missed quite a few recent contests due to family reasons, I
thought I would be able to have a good go at this one.
Well, so I thought!
Saturday evening was all messed up due to a visitor, so I planned to start
later in the evening.
However, shortly after the start of the contest, we were getting a real
battering from Storm Force 11 winds, with gusts to 70MPH. Add in really
heavy rain/hail, and the bands were pretty much unusable here.
Plan B then... Get up early on Sunday morning, and have some fun. Hmmm, a
restless night listening to the house shake meant I didn't wake as early as
I had hoped, but I was in the shack just after 0730.
40m was in poor shape, but I did get VY2/W5AJ, and heard a few US stations,
but it was mostly EU for me.
I stuck on 40m until 20m opened sufficiently to make the move worthwhile.
When I did move, it was hard work, and mostly eastern EU stations. VK4FJ and
PZ5RA made it into the log, but that was it for DX.
Had some lunch around midday, as the bands weren't that inspiring, but after
that, 20m started to open to the US.
Had a few short runs, but nothing outstanding, and by later afternoon, I
decided to go S&P and see what States/Provinces I would find.
This proved to be good decision, as I raked in all sorts. KO7SS was way up
the band, above 14.140, and was an easy catch, but after that, there were
plenty of AZ and CA stations to be had.
Oddly, the east coast was hard work, but mid-west to west was OK, apart from
WA and BC.
Things improved during the afternoon, with plenty of States being worked,
and also HI3T, WP2B.
Sadly, I could barely hear Ed P49X, so couldn't add that mult, but VE4VT was
a nice surprise.
Usually I can hear Bud VA7ST, and I saw him being worked, but had no copy at
all this time.
15 and 10m didn't open at all for me. I did hear one station on 15m, but as
we had already worked on 20m, it wasn't worth moving.
I had to quit around 1630UTC for a family meal, so my op time was around 8
hours only.
N1MM worked flawlessly for me, although I can't say the same about my
operating skills!
My totals were as follows:
Band QSOs Pts Sec DXCC
7 51 51 1 19
14 131 131 32 18
Total 182 182 33 37
Claimed score: 12740
150W or less, into dipole for 40m, and 2-ele mini-beam for 20m.
N1MM and MKII microHam
Thanks to all for the fun while it lasted.
73 de Phil GU0SUP
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